''La lugubre gondola'', a piano piece, is one of
Franz Liszt's most important late works, written in 1882.
History
Its genesis is well documented in letters from which we know that Liszt was
Richard Wagner's guest in the
Palazzo Vendramin on the
Grand Canal in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
in late 1882. Liszt may have had a premonition there of Wagner's death which inspired the first version of the work: a piano piece in , written in December 1882 (which remained unpublished until the Rugginenti edition of 2002). This piece was recomposed the next month, in January 1883, and very shortly thereafter arranged for violin or cello and piano. The piano version was published in 1885, with minor changes (this version is today usually called ''La lugubre gondola II''). This was the only version of this piece published in Liszt's lifetime.
Wagner died in Venice on February 13, 1883, and the long
funeral procession
A funeral procession is a procession, usually in motor vehicles or by foot, from a funeral home or place of worship to the cemetery or crematorium. In earlier times the deceased was typically carried by male family members on a bier or in a cof ...
to
Bayreuth began with the funeral gondola to Venice's Santa Lucia railway station. Liszt was by now almost certainly considering the piece to be a Wagner memorial, and in 1885 he returned to the string version and replaced the last three bars with a twenty-bar coda. This was probably done before the publication of the solo version, because the new extended string version does not contain the minor alterations in the published solo version.
According to Liszt's correspondence with
Lina Ramann
Lina Ramann (July 24, 1833 – March 30, 1912) was a German writer and teacher known for her books on the Hungarian composer and pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can ...
, ''La Lugubre Gondola'' was originally to have been entitled ''Troisième élégie'' and was to have been dedicated to her.
There is an undated manuscript, clearly from the end of Liszt's life, of a starker version of the piece in for piano solo - virtually a new composition. It remained unpublished until 1927, when it was published alongside the other version of the piece, but with the same title. So since 1927, the piece has been known as ''La lugubre gondola II'', and the hitherto unpublished piece is usually called ''La lugubre gondola I''. It is unfortunate that the numbering which attached itself to these two works puts them out of chronology.
The opening single melodic line of ''La Lugubre Gondola No. 2'' can be seen to be inspired by Wagner’s unending melodies, and the unresolved diminished sevenths and unfinished phrases are reminiscent of the ''Prelude'' to Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde''. Liszt then develops this into a more lyrical, romantic line.
Editions
* Venice manuscripts (written 1882 and 1883) published by Rugginenti
ilan Ilan may refer to:
Organization
* ILAN, Israeli umbrella organization for the treatment of disabled children
Given name
* Ilan (name), a Hebrew/Israeli name
* Ilan Bakhar, a retired Israeli footballer
* Ilan Araújo Dall'Igna, a Brazilian footbal ...
in 2002.
* Cello version and violin version (written 1883) published by Hardie Press
dinburgh
* 1885 4/4 piano version
'La lugubre gondola II''and 1880s 6/8 piano version
'La lugubre gondola I''published by Editio Musica Budapest.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lugubregondola, La
Compositions by Franz Liszt
1882 compositions
Compositions for solo piano
Funerary and memorial compositions